Weekend Driver San Diego

Who says we don’t have seasons in Southern California? At 4,000 feet, in the mountains east of San Diego, there are golden leaves in the fall, snow in the winter, and in the spring, wonderful green valleys and peaks.

James Bond Would Love San Bernardino Highway The yell came from the other pump island at the gas station near the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. “Going drifting in that thing?” asked a curious fourtysomething who probably shouldn’t have even been thinking about drifting, being that he was refueling a Dodge Caravan. He was [...]

Fields of green and gold, babbling brooks aside winding paved roads, damp dirt trails and streams crossing dirt roads. It must be spring in San Diego’s mountains. Arguably the area with the most variety surrounds Lake Henshaw and Warner Springs, in the extreme northeastern corner of San Diego county.

Many of the great driving roads in San Diego county are in areas where October’s fires raged, but many others were untouched.

Even in the middle of suburbia, the crowded Interstate 15 corridor, just around a corner is one of San Diego County’s most challenging country byways. Highland Valley Road is hard to even see, since it seems to drop off the side of busy Pomerado Road at the north end of Rancho Bernardo. From here, the [...]

With all the mountains in San Diego County, a picnic in the wilderness is only a few minutes away for the thousands who have high-ground-clearance vehicles. Qualifying are most of the SUVs on the road, including crossovers. The Mount Laguna area, at around 6,000 feet, has all the necessary features — trees and dirt roads. [...]

Lyons Valley Loop Around Jamul Is Twisty Fun From August 2007 If there’s a road in San Diego County that mimics the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster at Mission Beach, it must be Lyons Valley Road, near Jamul. And cruising it in a nimble pocket rocket like Nissan’s new-for-2007 Sentra SE-R Spec V can be more [...]

Exercise a Sports Car While Crossing the Riverside-San Diego County Line From July 2007 A sunny day and a new Mazda Miata cry out for a trip over some twisting mountain roads. The selection on a recent Saturday afternoon was a route over a couple of classics between Pauma Valley and Temecula: Rice Canyon Road [...]

Among the twisting byways in our region, De Luz Road has to rate as one of the best. Winding over the mountains from Temecula to Fallbrook, it goes up and down over the peaks and valleys, past avocado groves and along the edge of breathtaking canyons. What a great spot to test the road legs [...]

Santa Ysabel is great destination for Saturn Sky Roadster From March 2007 What’s your favorite road? For many two- and four-wheel driving enthusiasts that know this county, a pair between Ramona and Lake Henshaw are high on the list: Old Julian Highway and Mesa Grande Road. Both have prerequisites for greatness: twists, curves, and a [...]